Yesterday before the rain

I cut the grass,

filled the bird feeder

and moved two grey wooden lawn chairs


For a few brief moments

I pretended he was with me

happy that the sky was blue

happy that the small birds

were chirping in the bushes


As the clouds moved over us

I asked my ghost husband,

"why did you leave so abruptly?"


There was no answer

from the other chair,

just a Blue jay feather

and some sea shells

from last summer, strewn

on the otherwise empty table between us